


Ravens and Wolves

by Feral_Lynx



Category: Beyond: Two Souls, Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Also if you can't tell by all the tags and warnings yet chapters 2 &3 are dark, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arcadia Bay (Life is Strange), Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Heavy Angst (Chapter 2&3), Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Prison, Mentions of Suicide & Suicidal thoughts, Multi, Other than Crossover Story is canon compliant, Post-Alone Ending (Beyond: Two Souls), Post-Redemption Ending (Life is Strange 2), Post-Sacrifice Arcadia Bay Ending (Life is Strange), Suicidal Thoughts (Chapter 2&3), Suicide Attempt (Chapter 2&3), racial violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:53:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25900144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feral_Lynx/pseuds/Feral_Lynx
Summary: Jodie has been on the road for 20 years now, since the events of the Black Sun. No longer attached to Aiden's spirit, she struggles to adjust to life alone.Sean is now finally released from prison, but the world he left behind is not the world he returns to. He must come to grips with the nature of life as an ex-con, while realizing that the brother he went to jail for no longer needs him.When strange happenings push these two lost souls together, they are unwillingly thrust into a journey where they uncover secrets of each other's pasts while grappling with their ownA very basic knowledge of Beyond: Two Souls is helpful in understanding this story but is not required.
Relationships: Daniel Diaz & Sean Diaz, Jodie/Sean
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Jodie

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to all my beta readers, darkjaden825698 (ALL), Super_Wolf (ALL),Khoris(5-13)and souvenirsofapastlife (chapters 1-3) for not only helping edit and make suggestions but also their support on my first attempt at fanfiction (The story would not be half of what it is without their help). Special thanks extended to Darkjaden825698 for not only for his great edits but also helping me with all the administration, tagging, and helping me figure out everything else that goes along with posting a fanfiction for the first time.

August 15 th , 2033, 3:00AM 

She awoke in a cold sweat. Another nightmare of being tormented by ash-like creatures Jodie referred to as entities. _Crap, at this rate I am going to become as bad an insomniac as Madison_. Oh well, nothing she could do at this point. Might as well make the most of this. She wandered outside of her bright-orange, cramped mountaineering tent towards the edge of the Nisqually river. It was one of the more serene spots Jodie had picked to camp in a while, water trickling across the rocks under the stars and the moon creating a landscape that glowed with a silver sheen. Maybe she should practice a bit of telekinesis. Since the condenser collapse in 2025, Jodie had seemingly developed similar abilities to her parents, more specifically her mother, albeit in a very weak capacity. She focused on lifting a small, flat stone and almost immediately dropped it into the water due to the sudden splitting headache and nosebleed. _Well shit, I don’t seem to be getting any better at this;_ _it takes so much energy and the headache almost happens immediately._

Not that it mattered much anyway as the CIA was leaving her well enough alone for the time being. It had become a mutually beneficial, albeit strained relationship. She kept her mouth shut about their experiments with what’s beyond life, and any other questionable methodologies the CIA has, and they send her monthly deposits provided she keeps quiet and leaves them be. Nonetheless it was still frustrating, especially having no clue why she had suddenly developed powers. Certainly she should have had the ability from birth if it was genetic, it must’ve been something else.

Feeling herself become distracted by her thoughts, Jodie thought she should write down the events of the past week _._ Ever since the events of the Black Sun in 2015, her memories became increasingly volatile. They would disintegrate, disappear, reappear, mix themselves up in her head, so she writes to maintain the order, and when she forgets, the pages become her memories. She sat and wrote about the week, etching each sentence out as carefully as possible as to not to leave out any details. Not only did these pages become her memories sometimes but writing her experiences down was therapeutic and seemed to help with how much she would forget at certain times. Since Jodie had started writing on a weekly basis her memories became more consistent, easier for her to recall and piece together. She scratched information into the pages about visiting the ruins of Arcadia Bay and the new town that was being built atop them, staying in that creepy hotel room by the Columbia river, and the numerous entities wandering in and out of that run-down pawn shoppe.

*BZZZZT*BZZZT*BZZZT*

Jodie opened up her bag and checked her phone. The name Madison Paige flashed across the screen, her supervisor from the American Tribunal. Jodie had started doing some writing for the Tribunal about 10 years ago to supplement her deposits from the CIA. Usually Jodie would keep her phone on silent to keep Madison from waking her. But at least when she didn’t turn it to silent and Madison phoned in the middle of the night, Jodie could pretend it was Madison’s insomnia rubbing off on her and not her own mental breaks and horrid nightmares.

“Hey Jodie, I hope I didn’t wake you,” Madison’s voice emitted from the other side of the phone, sounding almost as ragged as Jodie felt.

“Hi Madison. No, you didn’t. Y’know, I barely sleep a wink most nights, nightmares don’t seem to be getting much better,” Jodie replied as she began to doodle a tethered entity into her journal.

“Sorry to hear that, I am just phoning to check in with you on the article you were planning?”

“Uh… yeah, I’m going to do something regarding the Hood river hotel,” Jodie half-heartedly replied. Continuing to add details to the ash-like entity developing itself on the page.

“You don’t sound as excited about this one as some of your others. What happened to Arcadia Bay, or the seemingly spectral blast in Seattle?” She inquired

“Yeah Arcadia Bay has a lot of entities around but it’s difficult to pin anything down to write about. I have no more clues than five years ago other than the name Chloe Price who seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. As for the Seattle story, only two people died in that incident and the entities didn’t stick around that location so it’s very difficult to piece together what happened. All that I know is in each case something from Beyond was involved but I can’t pin anything concrete down.”

“I see, nothing to write about them?”

“Nothing to write,” Jodie replied, disappointment dripping from her words.

“Well the readers of American Tribunes ‘supernatural snippets’ will be pleased with whatever you cover. They always are! Anyways I need to get going soon. Oh, and Jodie… Please remember if you ever need to talk about anything not related to work just give me a call ok? I’m always here for you.” At this point Jodie had finished the rough sketch of the entity she had drawn and labeled it Aiden as she felt tears well up just behind her eyes.

“Thanks Madison. I will keep that in mind, talk to you later.”

The line went dead, and Jodie was again left alone with her thoughts. Jodie really did appreciate Madison allowing her to openly talk about her life. Most of her young life people would lie to Jodie and use her for their own personal gains. And it got to the point where she became fed up, Jodie became reluctant to tell other people about her past and other sensitive information, the amount of people Jodie could actually trust in her life she could count on one hand and that was it. Madison was one of those people. She had been there when Jodie was at one of her lowest points and helped her up, provided her a place to stay and gave her some work, no questions asked. So, it was always nice being reminded she could talk to her. Jodie tried to remember the last time she talked openly with someone other than Madison about her past and had a tough time, there were some, but they were few and far between. 

Jodie looked down again at the sketch she had made while speaking to Madison, she added a few lines, representing the tether between her and him. In a fit of sadness, she struck through the lines with the eraser on her pencil. She missed Aiden so much. After the condenser collapse in 2025, he seemingly vanished, leaving Jodie more alone than ever.

It was almost sunrise and Jodie knew she wasn’t going to sleep anymore, so she decided to start packing up her gear into her rather large backpack. As she was on the move a lot, Jodie tended to travel light—just a mountaineering tent, sleeping bag, an assortment of dry food that took a while to go off, water, her notebook and pens. She also had one other item, perhaps the one Jodie prized most of all, her guitar. It was a gift from Madison after the events of 2025 when Jodie spiraled into a deep depression. She had taught herself guitar from a fairly young age at the DPA facility and it was the one thing which really soothed her, made her forget about her problems, even if it was just for a brief moment in time. She placed the guitar in its black case. It was looking a little rough from almost 10 years of use out in the wilderness.

With her things packed up Jodie made her way back up to the trailhead where she had parked her motorcycle. Though gray at one point, now it was almost completely red with rust. It had been a gift from some friends she met in Arizona, specifically Navajo. It truly was a rust bucket. She hopped on, getting ready to go. She started the engine and almost immediately there was a loud pop, and smoke emitting from the motorcycle.

“Shit!” she exclaimed.

And as she got up to check it out a handle snapped right off.

“FUCK!”

She can’t even claim she was surprised Jodie knew the motorcycle was on its last legs but hadn’t bothered to start looking for a new one at her last stop. _Figures_ . But it did give her a good 15-plus years of use, Jodie put lots of love and time into keeping it running. It was time to let it go. _Guess I am walking_ , she thought, hoping the next town wasn’t that far away. As she began her trek south, her feet already started to ache.

*****

August 16 th , 2033, 9:00AM 

Jodie had been walking for hours. Everything was starting to hurt; she had slept outside again last night and gone through the last of her water. And now she was running low on food. Every time a vehicle heading south would pass by, she would turn, hold out her arm and stick her thumb in the air. And every time without fail they would speed by, honking as they went, sometimes accompanied with someone giving her the finger or swearing at her. She didn’t care at this point. The last time she had felt this terrible was walking through the Arizona Desert. It had been a great stroke of luck she had found a farm that time, though now it seemed her luck was in short supply. It was her own stupidity that put her in this situation though, and she knew it. She should have repaired her motorcycle before setting off camping! No, she should have waited and got a new motorcycle before setting out again and now she was paying for her decisions.

The sound of another engine was approaching from behind, another vehicle coming down the road. She turned and stuck her thumb up. This time instead of passing and honking, the blue car coming towards her slowed down and stopped just as it rolled past her.

 _Looks like I am not out of luck yet,_ Jodie thought to herself.


	2. The Lone Wolf

**Chapter 2 & 3 have a major character attempting suicide. Please if you are affected by this or feel affected by reading any of this remember that there is hope and help. I have linked to a website with numbers to suicide hotlines in your area:** http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html

August 16th , 2033 4:00AM 

The fire was mere embers at this point. Small amounts of smoke simmered up towards the night sky. Sean Diaz looked down at his brother fast asleep beside him. Sean wasn’t able to get much sleep these days, tormented by memories, guilt, thoughts of being a burden to his family. And to think it all started here, just about 17 years ago, with one stupid decision to run away, fearing prosecution for the death of a police officer. If you had asked Sean if he would go back in time to change his decision, he wouldn’t be able to answer. On one hand, he wouldn’t trade that half a year with his younger brother for anything in the world, on the other, it led to Sean sacrificing half his life to ensure his younger brother would grow up safe and happy, and almost normal, despite his abnormalities. However, this had cost Sean fifteen years of his life, he had spent almost half his life in prison at this point.

Upon being released, Sean had spent several months living with Daniel and Chris in their Seattle apartment while Daniel worked his job as a barista and studied to get into law school. This killed Sean inside; he felt like a financial and emotional sponge on Daniel while he attempted to get back on his feet. Job interview after interview, each time being declined the position due to his criminal record with multiple felonies. And Daniel didn’t need him around anymore. At one point, Daniel looked up to him for everything, guidance on what to do in the world, with his power. If anything Sean was just a burden to Daniel now, as his little brother had grown up and did not need him anymore.

For the longest time, Sean was Daniel’s emotional rock, his guide. Daniel would frequently write/call him in prison when he was younger, excited to tell him about his days, his week at school, his friends and the great adventures he was having. Daniel would also frequently ask Sean what he thinks he should do about bullies at school, about friends, about girls he had crushes on and would always be so excited when he came to visit Sean. But as Daniel grew, the wolf brothers drifted apart. Daniel would phone and write less frequently, and wasn’t able to visit as much, until there was only one visit every month or two. 

The past few months had been so hard on Sean. He was a big brother past his best-before date, a burden to Daniel, and Sean couldn’t take it anymore. So, a few weeks ago Sean sat down with Daniel and discussed leaving to go on the road again, as he couldn’t bear to inconvenience Daniel and take up anymore of his precious emotional or financial resources. Daniel was kickstarting his life, he needed all the resources he could get to help get him through the gauntlet of what the world and university would throw at him. Sean was miles behind, still a 17-year-old in the body of a 32-year-old. So, despite Daniel’s protests, Sean was going to leave Seattle, and with what little money he had, he would travel America looking for his place. Though Sean didn’t share this thought with Daniel, he thought he might not find one, that he may drift hopelessly, having outlived his use, lacking coherent life and social skills from his time in prison and therefore no purpose, no point to continue. Both brothers talked and decided before Sean left, they would go camping together, under the same sky where their journey began all those years, a fitting sendoff for Sean.

Camping with Daniel the previous evening went well for the most part. It had been nice to spend time with his brother as he talked about exciting upcoming events in his life, and for a moment it almost felt like they were 9 and 16 again. Daniel had excitedly told him about what his life was like at the end of high school, with Chris, with his friends, and Sean couldn’t take much more at that point. He thought about all the time he missed watching Daniel grow up, all the parts of his own life he had missed out on, graduation, applying for college, how to navigate the young dating scene. In a blink, all of that was gone. He had missed those years of his own life and felt as though he was intruding on Daniel’s. Hearing and thinking all this broke Sean, and he began to weep and tremble. He had missed so much and gone through hell and back for his brother with absolutely nothing to show for it. He had little hope for a great career due to his criminal record and did not have the finances or academics to attempt a college degree. Sean just sat there and sobbed while his brother tried in vain to comfort him.

It was almost daybreak now and Sean still felt like an emotional wreck. He looked over at his brother curled up beside the campfire, fast asleep. Daniel didn’t need his big brother anymore. At that point, Sean decided to turn to the one thing which still brought him any peace in this world. He pulled out his tattered sketchbook, a gift from his dad, the pages starting to show their age with the orange-like tinge that old books have, and began to sketch. He drew two wolves, much larger than the ones that appeared on previous pages in the sketchbook. He drew the wolves sleeping peacefully around a campfire near a stream. He could almost imagine the wolves happy, free from the cruelty of the hunters and the world. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

As day broke and Daniel began to stir, Sean just watched the sunrise in silence, staring blankly over the river. Once awake, they began to pack. 

“Are you still sure about this?” Daniel asked. 

“Yep, you don’t need to worry about me, _enano_ ,” Sean said, feeling tears well up in the back of his eyes. 

“I know it's just, where are you going to go? How are you going to make money? Where are you going to sleep?” Daniel asked, raising many valid concerns and questions Sean did not have the answer to. 

“I’ll be okay, you and I managed to figure it out all those years ago right? And we didn’t even have a car back then.” Sean half chuckled thinking about that. 

“Yeah I guess you’re right. I just want you to be ok, y’know?” 

“I know, _enano_ , and I just want you to be able to live your life without worrying about me. Can you promise me you’ll do that?” 

“Ok, I’ll try, but you need to promise to call me at least once a month,” Daniel said, his eyes glassy in the morning sunlight, but he smiled back at Sean nonetheless.

“How am I going to do that if I don’t even have a phone?” Sean replied back. 

“I don’t care, I want to hear from you whether it's pay phone, email or even a postcard!” 

“Don’t worry about me, _enano_ , live your life as best you can.” And with that they began their walk back to their vehicles. 

Their walk back to the trailhead was uncomfortably silent, and it took every fiber in Sean’s body not to just break down and sob again. They walked by the old eating area, where they had played hide and seek in the woods, and saw all the trailblaze markings which Sean had taught Daniel about. Once they reached the trailhead where their cars were parked beside a broken-down motorcycle, they gave each other an embrace, a bone crushing one, one that felt to Sean like it could last forever. As they released each other, Sean wandered back to his car, one last birthday gift from Daniel. Daniel had fixed up the car his dad was planning to give to him for his graduation. He climbed into the dark blue, aged vehicle, with the backpack Brody gifted to him all those years ago beside him. He turned the key and the engine hummed to life. He gave Daniel one more smile, a façade of happiness so Daniel could go and comfortably live his life without worrying about his big brother. Sean waved as he turned the wheel and began his drive south. As Sean drove away, he could swear he almost heard a howl over the wind…

*****

Sean had no idea where he was going. All he knew at this point was that he was heading south. Maybe all the way to California, Arizona, the border? Or maybe he would decide halfway through to travel east and visit New York like Karen did. He also didn’t have any idea about how he was going to manage to get wherever it was he was going without starving. He had less than $200 to his name. When coming out of prison Daniel, Karen and his grandparents gave him some money totalling up to about $2000 to try to get back on his feet again. Most of that was gone now, having to spend it on new clothes (as none of the ones he had before prison fit him anymore), food, and of course paying for all those processing fees when applying for jobs only for them to decline him due to his criminal record. All Sean knew was that he would make it work. He couldn’t bear to have his brother live his life worrying about him. It was better if Sean would just disappear, fade to black into nothingness.

As Sean turned a bend looking ahead down the road, he saw a figure, walking with a dark black guitar case, a rather large backpack, and an outstretched arm with their thumb pointing up. Sean had thought about driving by, however something in the back of his mind stopped him. He remembered the blistering heat of Nevada while walking towards Haven Point. Sean had felt like he was on death's door when a truck driver had pulled over and graciously helped him finish his trek. Now was his chance to pay it forward.

He pulled over and honked his car horn. Sean now also had a better look at the figure. She was fairly wiry but muscular, wearing a black, red and white plaid jacket with some well-worn jeans (as indicated by the numerous holes in them). As she approached the vehicle Sean could see she had dark brown hair which reached past her jawline, and around her neck, just below her hair hung a couple of old looking dog tags which had developed dark gray splotches on them. With them dangled a gold, heart-shaped locket. It was hard for Sean to estimate her age—she looked as though she may have been in her late 30s or early 40s, but her hair and face told a far different story. The roots of her hair looked as though they were beginning to turn a silvery gray. Multiple old scars on her face and stress lines everywhere, especially around her eyes and under her nose, made her appear much older and very tired. She looked absolutely wrecked, like she may have been on the road for days, a look that Sean was all too familiar with. She had bags under her eyes, and her dark brown hair looked infested with a swarm of knots. It looked as though her plaid jacket desperately needed a wash, as indicated by the various mud and dirt stains on it.

As she approached the car, Sean rolled down the passenger window and called out

“You can throw your backpack and guitar in the back and hop on in.”

“Thanks,” she called back in an exhausted, raspy voice.

She threw her items into the back seat, shut the backdoor and then entered the passenger side door and slunk down into the seat.

“Thanks again, this really means a lot… um sorry to ask but do you have any water?” she asked with some apprehension.

“Um, yea. There's unopened water in the cupholder in the door,” he replied.

She reached down, opened the water and took a few sips. 

“Names, Sean by the way, what's yours?”

“Thanks Sean. Usually I’m better prepared than this, but my ride broke down the day I intended to travel back into town, so I am a little short on supplies. My name’s Jodie.” Sean could hear the hesitation in her voice as she spoke.

“It’s nice to meet you. So um, where do you want me to drop you off?”

“You can drop me in the next town over, I just need somewhere to buy food, water and start looking for a new ride or a bus station.” Awkward silence. Sean tried to fill this with more small talk.

“So um any plans once you get going again?” Sean asked awkwardly. Upon asking that question he could have sworn he saw her tense up and bristle a bit, almost like a feral cat being backed into a corner. She was only like this for a second and then relaxed.

“No, nothing really concrete. I might head towards New York, or I have some friends down in Arizona who I may stop by and visit. What about you?” She seemed to very quickly want to change the topic off of her. Sean found this odd, but chalked it up to lack of interaction with strangers in the world outside of prison and figured this might be normal.

“I’m not really sure. My mom lives down in Arizona, so I might head there, or I might go to L.A., but I’m not really sure. Do you have any family around the country?” 

Her bodily response to this one was much more pronounced, and for a second Sean thought she might throw herself out of the moving vehicle with the amount he saw her tense up and pupils widened. He almost immediately felt like shit and regretted asking.

“No not really. My dad died of heart disease when I was born and my mom died during childbirth. I don’t really have any other family,” Something seemed a little off about her response, Sean could feel it in his gut. Was she telling him the truth? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want to push her or make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already seemed.

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” he said warily.

“It’s ok. Sometimes that’s just the way life is.”

After that Sean didn’t want to pry any further, so they suffered through the rest of the car ride in an awkward silence.

After an uncomfortably long time, they reached a town called Morton, it appeared to be no larger than the population of the ruined town Sean had seen with Brody. They passed a few shops, a restaurant and a couple grocery stores.

“You can drop me here. Thank you again so much for the ride,” Jodie said, although Sean was unsure if she actually meant it or not.

“Stay safe and good luck in your travels,” Sean said as she grabbed her stuff out of the car and closed the doors.

“You too!” she politely replied. 

_Shit,_ Sean thought to himself. Half a tank of gas now, no food, hardly any clothes, no place to stay, and only $200 to his name. Guess it was time to figure that shit out.

*****

August 16th ,2033 10:00pm 

Sean awoke. His body was burning up, blood still dripping down his cheek. His ribs and teeth felt like they had been kicked in, and he had cuts and scrapes on his face and multiple other parts of his body. It hurt to move his arms, his legs, it seemed like there were bruises all over his body. He had mostly forgotten what happened. All he remembered was a group of guys beating him up, berating him with slurs and mugging him. He didn’t remember how he ended up in this empty motel room, but he felt like shit. What was he doing? He had no money, hardly any life experience due to spending half his life in prison. He was an inconvenience to Daniel, Karen, and an inconvenience to whoever was helping him now. He was useless, he was a dependent. There was nothing left for him, no hope at any happy future for him. 

He staggered over to his backpack on the floor beside the bed he was in. He rummaged through the front pouch and found a pocket knife he had brought to help make tinder for fires. He took it and wandered into the bathroom. Sean laid down in the bathtub. He took the pocket knife in his right hand and held out his exposed left arm. The silver blade was almost singing to him as he pressed it against his left forearm. The cold of the metal felt freeing. Sean knew he wouldn’t be a burden to anyone much longer and Daniel would be able to live his life without worrying about where his brother was and how he was doing. As Sean felt the sharp blade begin to free him from this earth, the last thing he thought about was Daniel...


	3. Siblings

**Chapter 2 & 3 have a major character attempting suicide. Please if you are affected by this or feel affected by reading any of this remember that there is hope and help. I have linked to a website with numbers to suicide hotlines in your area:** http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html

August 16 th , 2033, 3:00PM

Jodie now remembered why she avoided hitchhiking at all costs; the uncomfortable conversations and lying through her teeth for 90% of them. The car ride had been incredibly awkward. It was mainly her own fault, but at least the awkwardness stopped the man with the glass eye from prying anymore into what her life had been like.  _ Time to move on. _ She would likely never hear from him again and she would be nothing more to him than the strange hitchhiking woman he picked up that one time.

Jodie had to find a place to stay the night, a place to get food and had to find a place to get bus tickets or purchase a new motorcycle. And maybe if she had some extra time, she could find a street corner to busk on. It’s funny, because she didn’t actually ever need any money from busking. She just enjoyed performing, but didn’t want to do it in pubs or anywhere she would draw too much attention to herself, so street corners were perfect. She was almost half invisible and people never gave her any second thoughts. But that was for later. First, arranging a way out of this town.

After wandering for a couple hours, Jodie found a motel to stay in. “Roy’s Motel and RV park,”. Nothing spectacular, but she managed to get a room with a couple of twin beds, a balcony, and seemingly no cockroaches. The motel room was a little run down, with some of the wallpaper peeling, an older looking television, and a wardrobe with scratches all along its sides. The room also had that old person smell to it, mothballs maybe, she couldn’t quite remember what it was called. Jodie didn’t care. As far as Jodie was concerned, this was like a five-star resort. It was somewhere warm, with a bed, and not in the middle of the wilderness. Anyway, no time to settle in. She had to figure out a new ride or a bus or something. She pulled out her phone and tried to look for used motorcycle shops in the area. Unfortunately the closest one was in Portland.  _ Damn, not at all close _ . Oh well, it looked like there was a greyhound bus that came through here in a couple days that she would be able to catch and take to Portland, and then figure out a plan from there.

It was about 5:00pm now and Jodie was getting hungry. She decided to go shopping for supplies first, picking up more granola, cereal and some canned food for the next time she was out camping. After that, she decided to go get a burger at the local pub. She had not eaten a hot meal in two weeks and was looking forward to it.

Jodie hated pubs. They are loud, busy, noisy and easy to get trapped in conversations she would rather not be in. Also depending on what time you went it either stank of too much alcohol or smelled of greasy foods. Thankfully Jodie arrived when it still smelled like the latter. 

While in the pub, someone caught Jodie’s eye, the same man with the glass eye who had given her a ride into town. Sean? That’s what she thought he said his name was. He was sitting at a table on the other side of the bar from her.  _ Shit _ , Jodie really did not want to interact with anyone, much less have an awkward interaction this evening, so she focused on keeping her head down and eating her food. But she couldn’t help but notice in the way that Sean sat and picked at his food, that he seemed incredibly lost and sad. Kind of like a boat without a rudder, just drifting aimlessly through the sea. She was almost tempted to go over there before quickly remembering the discomfort she had felt on the drive here.

Thankfully he left before her, so any chance at an awkward interaction was gone. Jodie was able to try and enjoy the rest of her evening. Her phone pinged and it was a text from Cole. 

“Hey princess, haven’t heard from you in a couple weeks. Just checking up.”

Jodie quickly typed a response.“Yeah sorry Cole, haven’t had cell service for a while. I have been camping quite a bit. Happy belated birthday by the way, sorry I wasn’t there to give you any presents.” 

The cell service bit was a small lie. She did have service the other night when Madison had phoned but she was so exhausted from traveling she hadn't planned on talking to anyone that evening. She still felt like shit for not phoning Cole that evening, she really did care about him, as he did for her.

“That’s okay, as long as you are safe. You had me worried for a bit there. I would love it if you gave me a call so we can catch up a bit with what’s going on in your life these days.”

“Sure, how about later tonight?” She quickly typed back.

“Scotch at midnight?” he asked.

“Scotch at midnight,” she texted back. 

It was about 9:00pm now, so she should start making her way out of here. She tipped the server and bartender and wandered out into the streets. It was peaceful at night. Sometimes she would spot the odd entity here and there, but she had become accustomed to their presence. They never tried to hurt Jodie, they were just there to try and finish any business they weren’t able to in life.

Jodie was almost back to the motel when she noticed four guys out of the corner of her eye. They were uttering various racial slurs and looked like they had beaten a man on the ground pretty badly. 

“Look at this money he has,” one of the guys said. There were four of them and one of them had a baseball bat. Jodie was about to leave well enough alone when something popped into the back of her mind. It was something Madison told her about never turning your back on someone in need, that was how Madison had met her current husband.

_ Fuck it. _ Jodie wandered over to the four guys and spoke with a firmness in her voice she had not used in a long time.

“Hey, leave them alone!” It certainly caught the guys’ attention.

“Hey look boys,” the one holding a baseball bat said.

“Looks like the little princess here wants some of our attention too.”

It all happened so quickly. One of the guys got close and surprised her with a vicious hook that connected with the right side of her face. Stunned, she stumbled back. One of the guys managed to get behind her and wrap his arm around her neck, starting to choke her out. She quickly reached for her switchblade in her left pocket, flipped it open and stabbed it into his arm. He howled in pain. 

“Get that bitch!” he exclaimed. Jodie was prepared for the incoming strikes this time. From her time in the CIA, she had learned many ways to successfully take on multiple opponents at once. She skillfully blocked and dodged most incoming attacks until the guy with the baseball bat managed to get a good strike at her thigh. It hurt like hell, but she was still standing. With her good leg, she pivoted and kicked him squarely in the groin. He dropped the bat and she quickly picked it up, using it to block the incoming hit from the other guy close behind her. Now that she had the bat, things were a little easier. She took one guy down with a kick to the knees followed by a swing to his ribs. 

“Shit, that chick is crazy!” one of the other guys yelled, and they quickly dispersed and limped away.

Jodie rushed over to the man on the ground. It was that man again, Sean, the one who’d given her a ride into town. His bag was open and numerous items spilled out, including a sketchbook with some incredible sketches inside. She scooped up the belongings rapidly, closed the sketchbook and put them in the bag. She threw it over her shoulder and then turned her attention to Sean.

“Hey, hey, hey are you ok? Come on stay with me,” she said, frantically.

Sean groaned, he was still conscious.

“Here, put your arm around my shoulders,” she said as she helped him up to his feet. His face was covered in blood, coming out of a number of gashes in his head and corners of his eyes. His glass eye turned a scarlet colour, and more blood flowed from his mouth. The rest of him didn’t look so good either, his arms and legs covered in bruises, and Jodie had no idea what his torso looked like because of the jacket covering it, but she knew it probably wasn’t good.

“Come on I’m going to take you to the hospital down the street.”

“No hospital.” he coughed and muttered back weakly. “No hospital…” he repeated again.

“Hey, stay with me, Sean. Stay with me.” Jodie was so tempted to ignore him and call 911 anyways, but thought about how she would’ve felt if a stranger did that to her against her request, especially when she was on the run from the CIA. Guess she was taking him back to the motel room. She had to keep him conscious, though. If he lost consciousness, she would not be able to carry him herself.

“Hey, can you tell me more about your family?” she asked in a desperate attempt to distract him as they hobbled down the street towards the motel.

“I have a brother,” he mumbled.

“Oh yeah, what’s his name? What is he like?” She tried to keep the conversation up, but she could see he was fading fast.

“Daniel, Daniel’s his name…he is the best younger brother I think I could ever have.”

“Yeah? How old is he? What does he do?” At this point they were in the motel parking lot, just had to make it up a few flights of stairs.

“He’s 26. He is a student at Seattle U, studying to get into law school. Can you tell him something for me?” he asked, weakly. Jodie was a little confused, as surely Sean would live through this and be able to tell him himself. This confusion quickly turned into worry as she realized Sean didn’t think he would make it through this. Her first instinct was to try and comfort him, however she had to keep him talking, keep him conscious, or she wouldn’t be able to help.

“Ok, what is it?” she responded.

As they reached the top of the steps, Sean looked over at Jodie solemnly and said, “Please tell him how much his brother loves him, and cares about him, and is so proud of what he was doing with his life, and how nothing that happened is his fault. Can you do that for me?” 

Jodie, even more unsure of what to make of this, responded. “Yes of course I can.” 

Sean looked over to her with the most hopeless look in his eyes. “Thank you,” he said.

They were at Jodie’s room now. She supported Sean as she fumbled with her keys and got the door open. They hobbled towards the closest bed, and Jodie helped Sean lay down. He did not look good, blood covering his face and arms, bruises all over his limbs. She removed his jacket and shirt and saw many gashes bleeding and numerous bruises turning ugly shades of purple and red.

Quickly, Jodie left Sean’s side, dropped his bag to one side of the room, and went to grab her personal first aid kit from the bottom of her backpack. She pulled out all the gauze packs, roll gauze and BZK wipes she had and quickly got to work disinfecting and bandaging many of Seans wounds as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Nearing the end of her supplies, she checked his temperature.  _ Shit, _ he was burning up. He needed some painkillers and antibiotics. Jodie had an old prescription she used to get antibiotics whenever she needed, and she was pretty sure there was a pharmacy about a 15-minute walk down the road, faster if she ran. She could get more BZK, gauze, cold packs, ibuprofen and other first aid supplies from there as well. Jodie rolled Sean onto his side, covered him with a blanket from the wardrobe, and in a flash was out the door, hurriedly making her way down the street towards the pharmacy.

She reached the pharmacy just before it closed, 9:55pm. Jodie was quick in the pharmacy. She knew exactly what she needed. She grabbed the BZK wipes, enough gauze to patch a hole in the Titanic, a bottle of ibuprofen, Tylenol and aspirin and filled the antibiotics prescription. She quickly made it out of the pharmacy and started sprinting back towards the motel. It was almost 10:05pm now as she ran through the parking lot and up the stairs. Her hands were shaking from the adrenaline as she inserted the key into the door and threw it open. But when she looked into the motel room the bed was empty.

“Sean?” Jodie called, noticing the light peeking out from underneath the door to the bathroom.

“Sean?!” She called again. No response so she raised her foot and swiftly kicked in the bathroom door.

There he was in the bathtub, in and out of consciousness. She rushed over and quickly took his forearms and applied pressure just above the slices in his wrist. He looked over to Jodie with a face she will never forget, the saddest most hopeless face she had seen.

“Please let Daniel know how much I love him, and I hope he can live his life to the fullest. He doesn’t need to worry about his big brother anymore. There is nothing more here for me…” Tears started flowing down his eyes. “I hope he will be happy. I just can’t do this anymore, please let me go,” Sean started to sob and shake uncontrollably.

Jodie stared at him, stunned, for the next minute, still applying pressure to his forearms. The sobbing and shaking ceased as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.  _ Shit _ , Jodie’s mind was racing, she had to do something, she was not going to let him die here. Just as Aiden had helped her all those years ago, she was determined to help him. She removed her plaid jacket, tied it around his left forearm and made a makeshift tourniquet, and then took a towel and did the same with his right. It took some effort, but she managed to drag Sean’s limp body out of the bathroom, back into the main room and lifted him up onto the bed. Her heart was pounding in her ears, adrenaline coursing through her bloodstream. She immediately started bandaging his wrists and remaining cuts, while her hands shook from the adrenaline, the fear and anxiety. She applied some cold packs to his major bruises and was just about to leave him to recover. Looking at him though, she was fearful he might not recover on his own, without medical attention. But he had requested to not be taken to a hospital.

A chill went down her spine and she thought about something else, she remembered Aiden helping heal people—the little boy from the middle east, Paul in Navajo, her partner Ryan from the CIA, and herself. She had developed some abilities of her own; she had to give this a try. Jodie held her hand out over one of his forearms and focused, focused on what she couldn’t see, repairing the tissues as much as she could beneath the skin. Her hand started to shake more, and her nose started to bleed. She moved her hand across his body hovering now over the other forearm, trembling more now and a splitting headache beginning to develop. She had to keep going. She kept moving her hand over the various wounds of his body as she did so, her ears began to ring, she began to sweat, and her vision began to blur. Finally, she finished up the last cut on his head. None of the wounds had healed, she had just sped up the healing process. It was up to Sean's body now to do the rest. And with her bloody nose and splitting headache, she placed her head in her arms just beside Seans still body and began to sob and shake. 

It hit so close to home for Jodie. She thought of Aiden, her twin who had died at birth, but was always present and attached to her. That is, up until 2025. After the condenser collapsed, Aiden had just disappeared without a trace, and she missed him so much. She thought of her time on the streets—how she met Tuesday, Stan, Walter and Jimmy, how she had tried to jump from that bypass and Aiden had stopped her, how mad she had been at him, how much she didn’t want to go on anymore, but how Aiden insisted she suffered through. Jodie just sat and continued to sob as her tears mixed with the blood from her nosebleed and dripped into her mouth creating a salty coppery taste. All that just happened here reminded Jodie so much of Aiden and her past and it was almost too much to bear. She felt as though it was a limb that she had lost, one she would never get back or use again. Jodie remained in this position, trembling and leaking tears and blood. She had no idea how much time had passed before she finally got up.

She went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. The person looking back at her in the mirror appeared pale and sickly, as though her body had just been flattened by a hydraulic press. She splashed icy water across her face, it felt incredibly refreshing. She took an ibuprofen for the headache. She wasn’t going to sleep tonight - she couldn't. She had to make sure Sean was ok, that he would be well enough to talk to his brother again, an opportunity she wasn’t so lucky to have.

Jodie grabbed her guitar case and wandered out to the balcony and opened it up. It was a coolish evening and the air outside had a sweet summery smell to it, a stark contrast to the coppery smell of blood. She sat down, and looked out over the expanse of pine trees just beyond the balcony and held her guitar in her hands. The springiness of the strings felt good against her fingers right now. It reminded her of when she was younger, a time when Cole and Nathan looked after her. She looked up to the stars as tears ran out from beside her eyes, and she softly began to play. As she did, she slowly sang.

“Your sorry eyes,

they cut through the bone,

they make it hard to leave you alone,

to leave you here wearin’ your wounds,

waving your guns at somebody new,

baby you’re lost,

baby you’re lost,

baby you’re a lost cause.”

Jodie continued to play and sing softly into the night until there was a familiar *Bzzt* Bzzt* emitting from her phone. It was Cole. Jodie answered and immediately started bawling.

“Cole, I.. I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed. “This guy just tried, heeee, he...” She was stuttering, her voice was trembling. “He just tried to take his own life and... and I—I stopped him and I...I...I miss Aiden and I --” Cole interrupted her hysterics from the other side of the phone. 

“Shh, shh, it’s okay princess, it’s okay. can you slow down and tell me what happened?” 

And for the next hour, that’s exactly what she did. Through many tears, stutters and wails, she recounted to Cole everything that happened in the past 24 hours and he just listened quietly.

“Oh Princess, I am so sorry. I don’t know what to say. All I know is you’re strong, you’ll figure this out. You managed to evade the CIA for two years for goodness sake, and I know it’s hard without Aiden, but as hard as it is, you have to move on. You can’t cling onto the past like you do. You need to open up to the world around you. I am sorry I can’t be of more help.” Jodie found it incredibly soothing to hear Cole’s calm voice.

“It’s ok,” she said, breathing shakily and having cried herself dry. “Sorry your belated birthday phone call was so shitty.”

“How can it be shitty? I got to speak with you! Anyways Jodie, I know you, you will figure this out. I know you will!”

“Thanks, Cole, I love you.”

“Love you too, princess. Try to get some sleep now.” 

“I will try,” Jodie said as she hung up the phone, but that was another lie. She wasn’t going to sleep a wink that night.

Jodie just sat there on the deck staring up at the stars, listening just in case Sean woke up and began to move around. And she stayed that way until the sun started to rise over top the trees on the horizon. In her head, Jodie knew Cole was right, and if she was to help Sean, she would have to at least try to be open. That's what those strangers on the street had done for her all those years ago, she had to try and do the same for someone else now. 


	4. The Raven

August 17th 2033, 8:00PM

For someone who claimed to not have slept all night, Jodie sure kept a good pace. Sean was breathing hard as he tried to keep up with her. It was beautiful up on this mountain, so quiet, other than the occasional rustle of a squirrel or other small creature, fleeing away from the sound of their footsteps. The smell of the pine trees was overpowering, it reminded him of Christmases years and years ago.  _ Geez,  _ the last time Sean had seen a real Christmas tree was with Daniel and Chris at the market in Beaver Creek. That was something he looked forward to this year.

As they hiked through the forest Seans mind was still racing from the previous night, he had seen his dad. He missed his dad so much it was nice to be with him again. Unfortunately was snapped back to reality far too soon. He still had some resentment towards Jodie for saving him. 

“Hey, can we take a quick rest for a second,” Sean asked between breaths.

“Sure.”

Sean took a seat on a felled tree and sat and took a sip of water as Jodie sat down beside him. He hadn’t wanted to bring this up with Jodie but it had started to gnaw at him. 

“Why did you save me last night? I was free. I was happy.” He said this as tears stung the back of his eyes. He looked up at the sunlight filtering through the trees to try to avoid crying. 

Jodie let out a sigh. “I was in a similar place once, and my twin brother physically stopped me from jumping to my death. I really,  _ really _ hated him at that moment, the fact that he wouldn’t just let me go…” She paused and fiddled with the dog tags around her neck. “I hated him for a while after that too,” she continued. “It took me a bit of time, but I learned that there were still reasons to keep living, despite the pain and suffering, things like family, new friends, new journeys, new life and new beginnings.” 

She stared off into the distance, and the dark spaces between the trees as she spoke. It was odd, Sean never remembered her mentioning her brother in their previous conversations about her family. But truthfully, he wasn’t in a state where he was listening closely to other people anyways.

“And after hearing you last night, go on about your brother and how proud you were of him and how much you loved him, and all the things you want to tell him, I couldn’t, in good conscience, let you snuff out your own life in a shitty motel bathroom. Even if he only loves and cares about you half as much back, which I can barely imagine that being a possibility, he probably loves you more than anything else in the world. I am sorry if me saving you isn’t what you wanted or if this isn’t even what you wanted to hear, but it won’t do him or you any good if you are in the ground.” Her eyes looked glassy as she said this. She continued looking deeper into the forest, where the dark birds flew branch to branch. They sat in silence for a moment. “And... god, I know how hard it is trying to find good in the world again when it seems like there is nothing. It fucking sucks to find, it will be difficult, but it’s there, I promise. And even if you don’t look for yourself you need to try, at least for your brother. I know my brother couldn’t handle it if I had killed myself.” A few ravens started chattering in the background.

Was he really selfish for trying to kill himself? He immediately was filled with dread as he thought about how Daniel would’ve reacted if he had found out he had died. At the same time though, he wasn’t sure why he was still living. The past 16 years of his life were for Daniel, and now the little wolf didn’t need him anymore. There was nothing left for Sean to do. He had seemingly outlived his use, just to be there for Daniel. He was at loss of what to do going forward, but he couldn’t take the easy way out. He had to figure out a way to keep going, for Daniel. But he was lost and didn’t even know where to start looking for reasons to live again.

Jodie broke the silence and everything Sean was thinking about was pushed to the back of his mind. 

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Jodie said as she got up. She gracefully leaped up the rocks ahead of them. Sean was pretty sure that Jodie didn’t actually need sleep to function at this point. He couldn’t believe how someone who had barely slept the previous night still had so much energy. They made their way through massive trees, much like the ones along the Nisqually river. Sean’s mind kept wandering back to Daniel and how guilty he felt as they continued their hike.

They reached a rather large rock shelf, and as they climbed atop it they were able to watch the sun slowly sink below the horizon, exploding in many shades of red orange and purple as it did. They silently set up a camp for the night. Jodie had helped Sean pick out a good mountaineering tent and sleeping bag and helped him purchase it on top of the couple grand she had already given him. Sean didn’t even want to know how she could afford all this, and for some random stranger that picked her up on the road, no less. 

In a few moments they began setting up the campsite. 

“How are your wounds doing?” Jodie asked him. Truth be told Sean hadn’t even noticed them much today it was if they had mostly healed by themselves overnight. It was odd never in his life had any of his previous injuries healed so fast, especially not in prison. 

“They’re doing good, I’ve barely noticed them” 

“That's good to hear, just remember to take the antibiotics I gave you ok?”

“Ok.” He still couldn’t believe how much she had done for him in the past 24 hours, considering they had just met. He actually felt kind of guilty about accepting all this help. But she had insisted, and even suggested they go camping this evening. So here they were. Jodie seemed to really worry about him, she had even tried to get him to call Daniel earlier, but he was in no state and didn’t want to make his brother worry about him.

Once they had things set up it was about 9pm, so they started a fire. They just sat there for a bit, gazing into the flames. The smell of smoke began to linger in the air. Sean was still knotted up inside, he felt terrible about what he did the other night and for the pain that would’ve caused Daniel. But at the same time he felt empty, like there was nothing good this world could offer him. Fifteen years of his life down the drain in an instant and they were incredibly unpleasant at that. Sometimes he would still have nightmares about some of the fights that broke out in prison, the abuse… It made him want to just curl up and sleep forever. 

“Hey everything okay?” Jodie asked, looking over to him concerned.

“Yeah, everything is fi—” 

“Bullshit,” Jodie interrupted. 

“What?” Sean looked back at her, a little bit stunned. 

“You just tried to kill yourself the other night, there is no way you are ‘fine’. Tell me how you’re really doing.” Sean was kind of irritated and impressed at the same time that a total stranger was able to read him so well.

“I‘m… I’m not sure I am ready to talk yet,” Sean replied. 

“Ok, how about we play a little game then?” She inquired. 

“Um, yea okay.” At that response, Jodie reached into her bag and pulled out two flasks and a bottle of whiskey. 

“Ok so it’s Truth or Drink. We take turns asking each other questions and you can either answer honestly or take a shot.” 

“I’m not too sure,” Sean said. Sean wasn’t a big drinker, especially after prison. There was no alcohol there, and when there was, it was usually stuff made by other inmates which, as you could guess, wasn’t at all safe. 

“It's ok, I don’t drink much either. All the more motivation to tell the truth,” she said with a Cheshire cat grin. “Here, I’ll even let you go first. You can ask me anything you want.” 

Sean wasn’t even sure what he wanted to know about much less if he was going to get a 100% honest response from her. He decided to start with a somewhat playful topic. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” 

She just looked at him, smiled and then took a shot. “Ok my turn. If there was one place you had to pick to spend the rest of your life, where would it be?” Sean wasn’t sure how to respond so he responded as honestly as he could. “I’m not sure. I have seen so little of the world, I don’t think I can make that decision. I’m not even sure I would ever want to be one spot for my entire life anymore, especially after spending so much time in prison.”

Sean noticed Jodie staring into the fire again, she was nodding in agreement with his response. 

“You mentioned you had a twin brother? Where is he? And what does he do?” he asked.

A deep sadness fell across Jodie’s face, it looked like she was about to burst into tears. Sean was surprised when she answered. She had looked like she was about to take a shot, but just before she did, it looked like she remembered something. Something that stopped her and actually made her respond, albeit with trepidation. 

“I don’t know, about 8 years ago, it was like he vanished off the face of the earth. He left me no way to contact him. His name was Aiden, we had been close to each other for so long, it was so hard for me when he just left. What I wouldn’t give to just talk to him one more time, just to know he is doing ok. I used to hate him so much. I thought he existed only to ruin my life and make it miserable. But now there isn’t a day that goes by where my heart doesn’t ache, I miss him so much.” She said as a couple droplets of water started trickling down her face as she stared into the flames, she quickly wiped them away with her hands. She inhaled sharply.

“I’m going to ask the same question. Tell me about your brother, how old is he? What does he do?” This question was an easy one for Sean to answer. 

“He’s 26 now. He is studying to get into law school at Seattle U… I couldn’t be prouder of him, I love him so much.” Sean just smiled at the thought of Daniel. He really wanted him to be ok. He still felt like shit for even thinking about leaving Daniel alone in this world, but he still wasn’t ready to talk to him, much less Jodie about it. 

“Why did you try to commit suicide?” Sean asked. 

Jodie looked very solemn. She didn’t hesitate with this response, however. As she spoke, she just stared deeper into the flames. 

“I was on the run from the police and I had been through a lot of shit at that point. I was tired of running. I just couldn’t cope anymore. I wanted to let go so badly, but Aiden stopped me. And as miserable as I was and as much as I hated him for days upon days afterwards, I am really glad he saved me.” She let out a deep sigh like a deflating balloon, and then she tossed another log into the fire. 

A shiver went down Sean’s spine. Hearing about Jodie's experience on the run dredged up more thoughts about his time spent with Daniel evading the police. He missed it in a weird way. Not the part of running from the police, but he missed travelling from place to place and spending time with his brother.

“So why did you go to prison?” Jodie asked. 

“Second-degree murder.”

“Bullshit!” Jodie interjected.

“It's the truth,” Sean insisted. 

“Nuh uh. No way, I have met people who kill in cold blood you are nowhere near that. All the killers I have met have this cold look in their eyes without exception and that's just not there with you. So tell me the real reason you were in prison.”

Sean was a little bit hesitant about divulging this much personal information to a stranger. It occurred to him he could always take a shot, but figured he could tell her enough without endangering Daniel. After all, she had saved his life, and he hadn’t spoken to anybody about the events in Seattle since his court case all those years ago. Maybe it would help him a bit to get some of it off his chest, remind himself that he wasn’t actually a cop killer.

“Honestly, it was an accident. A cop killed my dad, and I don’t remember the rest. I just remember waking up moments later. The cop's dead body on the ground and my brother passed out. So I picked up my brother and started to run. I didn’t want to be separated from him and I wanted him to be safe. We were going to try to go to Puerto Lobos in Mexico where my dad lived, but we were caught. And to give Daniel the best life possible, I pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.” Sean almost broke down on the spot just reliving that memory. There wasn’t a day that went by where he didn’t question the actions he made that day, the ones that led him to this empty life.

“Jesus. It sounds like Daniel is one very lucky younger brother.” 

“Yeah, yeah he is.” Sean chuckled as tears streamed down his cheeks. “Jodie? How did you find a reason? I mean, like, a reason to live again.” Sean was sniffling, trying not to sob again. “Cause I’m not sure I can. I just love Daniel so much and can’t imagine leaving him in this world without me. But at the same time I don’t want to intrude. He doesn’t need me anymore and I want him to have a good life, but I don’t know what to do with my own. I feel like a husk of a human being.” Shit, he was sobbing in front of her, again. Whatever, she’d already seen him at his absolute worst the other night. 

She sat quietly for a moment before answering, her face rather pale. “I think I was very lucky, I found a group of people, kind of like a family, shortly after. They were homeless. There was Stan who started living on the street after his wife died; Walter was a teacher turned alcoholic; Jimmy, a drug addict; and Tuesday. Tuesday ran away from home, pregnant with her child because she was afraid her abusive boyfriend would kill her and the baby. They took me in, shared what little they had, looked after me at one of the lowest points in my life even though they had nothing to give. While I was with them Tuesday gave birth to a baby girl, Zoey. They will forever be family to me and they’re the reason I found a way to keep living, seeing that there was still good in the world and that I could be a part of that, extend the same help they gave to me, to others.” 

“Kind of like you are now,” Sean said. 

“Kind of like I am now,” Jodie echoed and nodded, staring up into the sky. “Hey, look up at the stars!”

It was pitch black now, and the sky was blanketed with little lights. It reminded Sean of Arizona, when he hiked into the canyon for the night just to look at the stars. In a way, it was comforting to think about his travels with Daniel. He had managed back then, he could manage now. 

“Anyways,” Jodie said. “I think I am going to sleep soon, but before I do I want to give you this.” She handed him a small slip of paper with an email and a phone number on it. 

“That’s the phone number to the American Tribune. If you phone, ask for a Madison Paige, and she can help you get some work writing articles or doing some drawing for the paper.” 

“Even with a criminal record?” Sean asked her. 

“Yep, without question, Madison hired me while the FBI was trying to track me down a number of years ago, she always assumes the best about people.” She paused for a moment. “I am feeling kind of tired. I think I'm going to try and get some sleep now.” 

“Hey, hold on a second. On the drive over you said you would at least play one song on your guitar this evening.”

“I guess I did say that,” she said with a grin. “But just one, and then I am going to sleep.” Jodie proceeded to wander over and pick up her guitar from beside her tent. She sat back down beside Sean and started to play and sing. Her voice glided softly through the trees. Her fingers danced along the guitar strings and the strumming reverberated off the trees of the forest as the sound of the guitar and her singing echoed off the trees.

“Atop the crags and cliffs the air is thin, 

so we’ll find a mountain path on down the hill, 

meet me where the snow melt flows, 

it is there, my dear where, we will begin again, 

skipping stones, braiding hair, 

last years antlers mark the trail, 

Take us back, oh, take us back

Oh, take us, take us back

Take us back, oh, take us back

Oh, take us, take us back” 

Chills went down Sean’s spine as Jodie continued to sing. She was an incredible singer and guitar player. He kind of wondered how much she had told him about herself was truthful and how much was fabricated, at this point Sean didn’t care, her heart was clearly in the right place. 

“See, I told you it's not that great, bet you regret asking now,” she said, smiling shyly at him. 

“Are you kidding? That was great! Way better than I could do!” He beamed back at her. Sean hadn’t smiled like that in at least 15 years. 

They sat in silence for a bit before Sean pulled out his sketchbook to do some drawing. His sketchbooks' unique features had faded with time. The binding was worn down, but it was still usable which was all that mattered. 

“Hey, what are you doing with that, where did you get that?!” Jodie asked. Her face was sheet-white. 

“Oh, I was just going to do some drawings in my sketchbook. I didn’t think you would mind since you were going to bed soon, I can put it away if you like,” he said sheepishly. He closed his sketchbook and placed it back in his bag.

Colour was returning to her face. “I’m sorry, it's just…I have a journal that looks just like it, hold on a sec,” She quickly got up and went over to her backpack and looked inside. Sean noticed her immediately relax after checking. She wandered back to the fireside and sat back down. 

“Sorry again, it's just my entire life is in that journal and don’t know what I’d do if someone else ever were to go through it.” 

“I get it. I’d feel the same way if someone went through my sketchbook without my knowledge.”

“Sorry for my reaction. I guess I’m a bit tired. I think I’m going to call it a night.” She yawned.

“See you in the morning,” Sean replied.

Jodie wandered to her tent and zipped it shut.

Sean stayed up for the next few hours just thinking and looking up at the stars, listening to the crickets and nighttime creatures scurry about in the bushes behind them. Jodie was sleeping like a log, especially for someone who had claimed to be an insomniac when they went looking at mountaineering tents. 

He pulled out his sketchbook from his bag again. He had a quiet opportunity to draw now. After all this time, drawing scenery around him was still difficult. His depth perception was better, but would never be the same as what it was. Sometimes losing his eye felt as bad as losing a limb. Despite this, he was still able to work through it and continue to draw. 

He drew a wolf curled up beside a fire, surrounded by rocks, and massive trees. It had a scar through its eye, missing tufts of fur, and had numerous scratches on it, and with the wolf he drew a new animal. A raven with a little heart-shaped locket and dog tags dangling from its throat. The wolf and raven slept under a blanket of stars. 

Sean ran his fingers along the scars on his forearms, his eyelids starting to become heavy. He didn’t even make it to his tent,he just closed his sketchbook and pulled out an old blanket from his bag, one that had belonged to his dad. As he lay down, he couldn’t hear a sound from Jodie's tent over the pop of the embers.


	5. A Strange Bay

February 27th, 2034, 2:00PM 

Jodie’s fingers had developed a lovely purplish hue and icy air stung her lungs as she inhaled. She didn’t really care at this point; she continued to pluck away at the strings of her guitar and sing for the few people that would pass her by every hour. A number of months ago, Jodie had opted to go on a hiatus. She wasn’t writing articles for the American Tribune at this moment in time. 

Sometime around October, word got out that Sean Diaz was released from prison after serving a 15 year sentence, and there was mounting pressure from the higher ups at the American Tribune for Jodie to do a story surrounding the suspicious circumstances of the incident in Seattle all those years ago (or at least try, again). Jodie had realized, that night camping in August, that Sean Diaz was the same Sean who had picked her up that day back when she was wandering on the road, the one who had tried to end his suffering in the bathroom of a motel room, the same Sean that disclosed sensitive information to her and to a lesser extent she to him. The thought of publishing any articles about the events in Seattle all those years ago made her sick to her stomach, she didn’t want to make Sean’s already rough life worse. 

There wasn’t a day that went by where a little voice in the back of Jodie's head didn’t wonder what Sean was doing these days. She wondered if he ever got in contact with the Tribune, if he ever spoke with his brother about that night in August, if he told Daniel about how he truly felt, if he managed to move on and start living his own life instead of worrying about his brother. All questions Jodie would likely never know the answers to. And logically she knew that, so there was no point in thinking about it. However there was a small part of her that just wouldn’t let it go. Wherever he was she just hoped he was doing okay. 

Upon leaving the Tribune, Jodie also made a decision to get rid of her cellphone. She still wrote to the people important in her life: Madison, Cole, Jay and Cory, Zoey and her family, but she didn’t need a cellphone to reach them. And it was so freeing, Jodie felt so much more connected to the world and rifts to the other side than she had felt in a long time. It had become easier for Jodie to connect with other people since she didn’t have to worry about texts and phone calls from work or friends, she became more closely intertwined with the world around her and the one Beyond. Part of that feeling drew her to where she was now, sitting in the ruins of the once small town of Arcadia Bay. 

Arcadia Bay was a strange place that Jodie felt a pull to once again. No interest in writing a story about here anymore, though. She felt it calling to her again, like a Siren drawing sailors to their doom. It was an interesting location to say the least. Not only because of the tragic storm that had eviscerated the town and everyone living inside, leaving the place crawling with spirits and entities, but it felt more connected with the world Beyond, with many more rifts and tears in its fabric of reality than almost anywhere else Jodie had visited before. They were also likely part of the reason Arcadia Bay had never truly been rebuilt, there were only about a hundred people that lived upon these ruins and hardly any infrastructure rebuilt. Jodie figured most people get spooked by odd occurrences and the unexplained here and choose to leave. It was a fascinating place for Jodie to visit, sometimes she could just sit, play her guitar and watch hundreds of spirits and entities go by, going about any unfinished business they had. There was an entity Jodie would regularly see, a younger girl who appeared incredibly sad, who would go up to the top of high buildings and just wander off. There was another guy who appeared to try to feed any dog he came across or help the dogs if they were in trouble, it was all very interesting to watch from an outsider's perspective. So many stories and lives suddenly snuffed out. At one point Jodie could commune with the spirits and entities, when Aiden was still attached to her. Aiden would be able to channel energy from the spirit or entity through Jodie and they would be able to speak through her. Unfortunately that was an ability Jodie was no longer privy to, one of the many skills she had lost upon Aidens disappearance. She had become deaf to their stories. So she had to be content as a quiet observer.

Jodie just watched and continued to play her guitar and sing, 

“don't know you

But I want you

All the more for that

Words fall through me

And always fool me

And I can't react

And games that never amount

To more than they're meant

Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home

We've still got time

Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice

You'll make it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me

And I can't go back

And moods that take me and erase me

And I'm painted black

Well, you have suffered enough

And warred with yourself

It's time that you won...” 

She was suddenly interrupted. 

“Sorry I don’t have any money to give, but that's a very nice song,” a voice said from just above her. Jodie looked up and saw a man with a white glass eye, a naturally saddened-looking expression across his face and a bulky backpack attached to his back. Jodie had to do a double take. She couldn’t quite believe her eyes. 

“Sean? I didn’t expect to ever see you again! I am glad to see you are doing ok,” she said as she felt a smile slowly crawl across her lips, tugging at her cheeks. 

“I’m alive, ok is kind of subjective,” he said with the same defeated tone she expected. Jodie was ready to ask all the questions that little voice in the back of her head had been wondering about daily, but instead defaulted to safer small talk. 

“So what are you doing in Arcadia Bay? These are basically just ruins still.” She asked, as she absent mindedly plucked at the strings on her guitar. 

“Honestly, I’m not sure, I saw this place once when I was younger and travelling with Daniel. I had almost forgotten about it until a few days ago when I felt a sudden urge to visit again. How about yourself?”

Jodie could relate, it almost feels like the call of the void, going someplace with a tragic past. A place that also lies on the edge of our own world and the world that lies Beyond. 

“I’m not totally sure, myself, if I’m being perfectly honest. I came here once to try to write a story about the strange supernatural happenings that happened here. The freak snowfall, the two moons, the massive storm, I attempted to explain them, but couldn’t figure it out.” 

“Hmm, so why are you here now?” he asked as he fiddled with one of the straps dangling from his backpack.

“I just felt pulled here, kind of like a gravity you know?” 

Sean nodded in agreement. “So are you not going to try to write a story about this place anymore?” He asked. 

Jodie was tempted for a moment to tell Sean the truth about why she wasn’t writing any stories for the Tribune anymore, that his story had made her second guess her entire time working for them. However, she decided against it. Figuring Sean was still in a place where his emotions about Daniel and his past were still very raw, it would do more harm than good if she told him the truth. 

“I am taking a break for a while, I didn’t really need the money anyways and the thrill of tracking down new supernatural stories every month or so starts to wear thin after a while. Did you ever contact the number I gave you for the Tribune?” Jodie asked, brushing some hair away from her eyes. Sean looked so guilty when she asked that question.

“No, I’ve been getting by with other means, some odd contracts for murals and street art here and there. It's not easy to find work but I make just enough to get by. Hey, I’m camping up at the ruins of the old lighthouse this evening by the way, I don’t know if you’ve ever been up there, but it seems like a nice spot to just watch the ocean.” There was a certain sadness in his voice. It wasn’t the same sadness she had heard all those months ago in the motel or even when they had been camping. It was a lonely sadness, one she had felt and to some degree still did. It's one you get when you travel on your own a lot. Sometimes you just get this feeling of melancholy, and she understood that feeling well.

“Um sure, yeah I uh just need to pick up some supplies and meet you up there,” Jodie wasn’t quite sure why she had accepted the invitation. Maybe it was because she had never been up by the lighthouse other than when she arrived here briefly on her first visit, or maybe she just wanted an excuse to satiet the voice in the back of her head, the little one wanting to ask Sean a billion questions, the one that wanted to make sure he was ok. 

“So uh, see you up by the lighthouse then?” he asked

“Um yeah , that sounds good,” 

“Ok, See you then.” he gave her a wave with a solemn look on his face and began walking away. As he left, Jodie's mind started racing. She suddenly remembered people she had trusted fully in the past, Ryan Clayton, Nathan Dawkins, both of whom had betrayed her trust, used her to fulfill their own goals. She wanted to open up to Sean, wanted, no, needed to help him. For what reason she felt this way she had no idea, maybe it was his love for Daniel, much like her love for her own brother that drove these feelings, or maybe it was something as strange as this bay itself. Whatever it was, she wanted to help him in whatever way she could, but the hauntings of her past served as a warning sign, a block in her mind. 

February 27th, 2034, 6:30PM 

Jodie was walking out of the local grocery store, having restocked on water and granola. She was about a block away from where she had parked her new motorcycle (well, new, being fairly relative; she had bought it second-hand off someone in Portland back in August and had done a lot of repairs on it herself), when someone caught her eye. It was an old homeless lady just sitting in an alleyway, wearing a dark jacket, and a blue shirt beneath that bore an image of a butterfly. She had sunken eyes and many wrinkles. Jodie had no idea how old she was. There was a timelessness to her. 

Jodie felt compelled to wander over and give her some spare change, it was almost like the compulsion she felt to come to Arcadia Bay in the first place. The woman smiled as Jodie approached and dropped a couple coins into the cup sitting in front of her.

“Thank you, Jodie,” the homeless woman said. Jodie staggered back for a moment, taken aback. 

“Sorry, excuse me?” Jodie asked, a little confused. 

“I’m just saying thank you for your kindness.” 

“No, how do you know my name?” Jodie asked defensively. 

“Oh I know everyone who has been in and out of this town for centuries, witnessed many changes to it. I even remember your brother, Aiden is what his name is? He was here a number of years ago, poor lost soul.” 

Jodie was beginning to seriously worry, every muscle in her body tensed up. Who was this lady and how did she know so much about her? Not only that but how did she know about Aiden? He had died at birth, there was no way this strange homeless woman should know anything about him, much less claim to have seen him. The homeless lady let out a cackle. 

“Oh it's okay dear, you can relax, your secrets are safe with me. I have kept the secrets of this little town for time immemorial. It's strange how so many entities enter this world through rifts in this bay don’t you think?” 

Jodie wasn’t sure what to make of this lady anymore. She bit down on her lower lip and kept her mouth shut, the homeless woman continued to speak anyway. 

“I personally think people who are attracted to this bay come here for a reason, reasons beyond my understanding of our world and the one Beyond, but people come here because something in the universe wants them to change. And whether they like it or not, the Bay makes them change. Or if they don’t, all the entities here wreak havoc upon people's lives or the lives of the ones they love.” A chill ran down Jodie's spine, could this lady be talking about her or someone in the past? Either way Jodie felt unsettled. 

“Is that what caused the strange supernatural events like the storm?” Jodie asked, feeling more and more uneasy despite the homeless woman's calm demeanor. 

“I am not sure. All I know is that when this bay wants something to change, it happens one way or another. I just think you should keep that in mind. Anyway Jodie, I think you have listened to my ramblings for long enough, thank you for the coins.” And with that last statement the strange lady leaned up against the wall of the alleyway and closed her eyes. 

Jodie hurriedly walked out of there, back towards her motorcycle, the feeling of unease was starting to fade from her mind and she started to relax a bit. Despite being spooked by how much the strange lady knew, she also made Jodie think about this change she kept referring to. Did the bay itself want Jodie to change? In what way though?

Jodie rode through the town towards the lighthouse trail. Her mind was cluttered with thoughts. Was what the strange lady said been the truth? She seemed to know way too much for it to just be crazy ramblings. She also thought about how she was going to talk with Sean as well. There was no way she could be truly open with him; it was too dangerous for Jodie to be completely truthful with him about some of the things he may ask about. But she wanted to help him so badly. She really wanted to tell him about her past because it might help him. But it was way too dangerous. She thought back to Ryan, how when the CIA found out about her connection to Aiden and how they had used her. She didn’t want that to happen again. Yet at the same time she wasn’t going to be able to help him at all if she didn’t at least tell him some details about her past. Maybe just not all of them. Jodie was going to be honest, and if anything came up she was only going to omit information, tell half truths, not quite lies. She truly wanted to be open but was scared of what would happen if she did. She had been hurt too much in the past. 

February 27th, 2034, 7:00PM 

As Jodie walked up the trail towards the lighthouse, she thought about sleep. She still had troubles with insomnia and frequently woke up from nightmares screaming. The last time she had slept well was back in August, the time she camped out for the night with Sean, but that was probably from pure exhaustion and nothing else.

When she reached the top she saw Sean had already set up his mountaineering tent and sleeping bag that she had bought him, and he was sitting quietly on the bench overlooking the ocean, just watching the moon and stars as they crawled upwards in the sky. The scent of the sea was overpowering on this lookout point. Sean seemed broken. Jodie quickly pitched her own tent and sat down beside him on the bench. 

“So have you talked to Daniel about what happened yet?” she asked as she began to stare out over the vast expanse of ocean. 

“No, not yet, I want to wait until I’ve found that elusive reason to keep going other than solely for him. Fuck…. Some days are way harder than others.” A tear crawled down his cheek. 

“But you have talked to him?”

“Yes, of course. He is my brother, I couldn’t go a month without at least phoning or writing to him, I’ve mainly been writing to him though. Just haven’t talked to him about what happened in August yet. And you were totally right by the way, he cares about me way too much for me to abandon him in this world. How about you? Did you hear anything from your brother by any chance?” It was so soothing out here listening to the waves crash into the rocks below them. It was so peaceful Jodie almost let her guard down and divulged everything about Aiden, instead she spoke half truths. 

“No, he just vanished, I have no way to contact him, I doubt he even knows where I am or how to contact me at this point. We’re just two souls that have gone separate ways y’know?” 

Sean just nodded as he stared out at the giant moon floating above the waves. Despite the logical part of her brain, the little voice in the back of Jodie's mind made her keep talking. 

“This is going to sound crazy, but when we were together I swear Aiden changed my perspective on the world. It was like when we were together I could see people and things I never would be able to otherwise, I haven’t been able to see the world the same way since…” Despite tears rolling down his cheeks, Sean smiled when Jodie said this. 

“Doesn’t sound crazy at all. Daniel changed my perspective on things, too, especially when he was younger. He always had such a positive outlook on things. He kept me going when I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it by myself. He also literally changed my perspective.” He chuckled and pointed to his left eye. Jodie wasn’t sure she had actually seen Sean truly smile up and laugh until this point. “I am sure by now, being a writer for a newspaper and some of the things I’ve told you, you've figured out I am the same Sean Diaz who led the FBI on a 10-month manhunt.” Jodie nodded in response. “Well during those months on the run, we had an altercation with a drug dealer and some of the actions Daniel took lead me to losing my eye. I’ve never been able to see the world the same way since, my sketches of landscapes are more difficult since I lost much of my depth perception. It certainly makes you appreciate certain things you took for granted before. In a way though, it also makes you more perceptive of the world around you as your other senses compensate for what you lost.” 

Jodie thought for a moment, there was a lot of truth in the last part he said. When Aiden was with her she didn’t have to rely on observations of entities and spirits because some of them could literally speak through her. However with him gone she had become far more perceptive and observant in order to piece together spirits and entities stories. 

“Yep,” Jodie said. 

“Hey um, I don’t mean to be rude but do you mind if I do a quick sketch? Its just the bay here is so beautiful and I didn’t get a chance to sketch it yet” 

“Go ahead, I actually want to write in my journal anyways.” She smiled as she pulled out her journal and he pulled out his sketchbook. 

As the moon climbed higher above them, all that could be heard was the sound of graphite scratching paper. The smell of aged parchment filled the air. Jodie wrote down all that happened in the week, her thoughts, her feelings and speculations. She could see Sean next to her, sketching the scene around them, adding doodles and notes to previous pages about some of the events that happened in his previous week. And at some point they both just stopped, Jodie laid her journal down between them and Sean set his sketchbook down next to it.

They both just sat there and watched the world around them, not saying a word. Sounds filled the frigid air, the chirp of the crickets, the waves pounding against the sand of the beach, the stars and moon moving around the earth. Jodie had no idea how much time had passed while they sat in silence, time faded away into nothingness for this brief moment, it didn’t matter. Her eyelids began to feel heavy as she sat there watching everything. Pretty soon she slipped into unconsciousness and didn’t wake until day break. 

***** 

Jodie woke to a bright light on her eyelids. She had slept all the way through the night, not a single nightmare. 

“Hey, look at the sunrise,” Sean said to her. The sunrise over the ocean was gorgeous, the bright reds and oranges beginning to explode over the earth. He laughed. “Looks like you slept well, you didn’t even need your tent or sleeping bag.”

“And you did?” It looked like neither of them had made it to their tents last night.

They began to pack up their things in silence as the sun rose. Jodie felt refreshed. She hadn’t slept that well in months, despite the fact her back was aching from sleeping upright on a bench all night. They were just about to begin their walk back down from the lighthouse ruins when Jodie realized she almost forgot her journal. She quickly rushed over to the bench. It was still there along with Seans sketchbook, and oddly enough, a blue butterfly had taken up residence on it. It kind of reminded Jodie of the butterfly on the strange ladies shirt the other night. She waved her hand overtop of it and it fluttered off back in the direction of the ocean. 

“Hey Sean,” she called out to him as he finished packing up his things. “Forgetting this?” She tossed him his sketchbook. 

“Thanks!” He put it into his bag with a smile on his face. 

After that, they began their trek back down from the lighthouse to Sean's car and her motorcycle. As they walked down the path, Jodie noticed more dark birds flying from tree to tree.

“Thanks for inviting me,” she said.

“Thanks for helping me make sure Daniel is ok,” he replied. 

“I know you would do the same for Aiden and I if you could. Good luck on your travels, Sean Diaz, and I hope you find your place.” She really wanted him to be okay on his journey. 

“You too, Jodie…” 

“Holmes, my last name is Holmes,” she interjected. 

“Well good luck Jodie Holmes. Who knows, maybe our paths will cross again.” The voice in the back of Jodie's head secretly wished this was true but she wasn’t counting on it. 

They briefly hugged each other before Sean thanked her one more time for the help, and they went off in separate directions. 

***** 

March 1st, 2034, 1:00PM 

Jodie was in Arizona now. She sat at this quaint little rest stop and decided to write in her journal. Especially more details about the events in Arcadia a few days ago. She pulled it out of her bag, opened it up and randomly turned to a page. Her blood ran cold, colour drained from her face. She did not see pages of writing, she saw pictures and notes, lots of them all of different things, people, animals, but no pages with her writing on them. Where was her past? Her recordings about everything that happened. Details about Aiden and her childhood. Everything about the entities and Beyond.  _ FUCK. _ She had mixed up her journal and Sean's sketchbook. Her heart pounded and she began to panic. She had no way to contact him, he could be literally anywhere in America. What if he told someone about the contents inside. Would she end up being a lab rat of the CIA again, in a medically induced coma? She had to find him again; he held her entire life in his hands.

**Author's Note:**

> Due to back to school chapter releases will no longer be as consistent. Expect one approximately every few weeks. 
> 
> Also want to extend a thanks to the Wolf’s den discord server for helping me through my post LiS2 depression and giving me dozens of ideas to write about through discussions on the servers.


End file.
